Well, I don't think we could understand it, do you?
Spoilers ahead!
'Grid' tells the story of Kim/Kwon Sae Ha (Seo Kang Joon), an employee of the Administration Bureau, who witnesses a murder and detective Jung Sae Byeok (Kim Ah Joong), who has been the one in charge of the murder investigation until the case is transferred to the Bureau. The two have somehow gotten entangled in the case for the same but different reasons: the Ghost.
The Ghost (Lee Si Young) is a time-traveling woman from the future who is also the founder of the Grid, the defense shield protecting the Earth from the solar flare in 2005. She is also the one who killed Sae Ha's father and the person who helped the murderer Kim Ma Nok evade the police. She appears before Sae Byeok while the latter is chasing Ma Nok and disappears right there and then---the reason why Sae Byeok is looking for her.
I am not a big fan of Science Fiction, especially those poorly made ones, but I remember getting excited about this one. The poster and the trailer were interesting but I have only been able to watch the series this January 2023. Disney+ was still unavailable in our country when the show was released.
Anyway, I looked forward to this series because I watched another time-traveling Korean drama, 'Sisyphus: The Myth' starring Park Shin Hye and Cho Seung Woo, and liked it. Indeed, 'Grid' is a thrilling and exciting drama that will keep you on your toes. However, it is also confusing. So many questions have been left unanswered.
Kim Ma Nok and Jung Sae Byeok's DNA
I was thinking, the reason why The Ghost kept saving Ma Nok would probably be because he also came from the future and that The Ghost would later exact revenge upon him. But no. Later in the series we will learn he and Sae Byeok share the same DNA with The Ghost. But how? We never know.
It is understandable that The Ghost would save Ma Nok in order for her to exist in the future. But what is her relationship with the detective? Is she Byul or Byul's daughter/granddaughter?
Time-traveling Kim/Kwon Sae Ha
Seo Kang Joon really did a good job in this series. I have fallen in love with him on 'Cheese in the Trap' and he is one of the few reasons I kept on watching 'Grid' despite the chaos.
Sae Ha's driving force in looking for The Ghost has been the death of his father, no, not the janitor, but the scientist. So when the Bureau is able to capture The Ghost, thanks to his plan, he breaks loose. He successfully traveled back to the past though and is able to travel to a present that is different from where he just came from---a present where the Grid doesn't exist but his father is alive and his mother is well and healthy. Here's what confuses me though: there is a point when he traveled to when he was young and met his young self. But when he traveled to that alternative present I mentioned, he did not meet his alternate self. Huh?
I was actually expecting that when he arrived there dripping wet, the version of him as the son of the doctor who developed the treatment for the effect of the solar flare in 2005 would come out and they would have this famous Spider-Man meme moment. But I was disappointed.
The Metal Pole
This is one mystery that still haunts me even after watching the series: why is there a protruding long metal pole in the middle of the wall of a laboratory?
Because if there wasn't one, no one would probably die there. Although I understand that for The Ghost to succeed in completing the Grid, the janitor who is Ma Nok's father and Sae Ha's father must be sacrificed. Still...
The Ending
Sae Ha's death surprises me much more than when it is revealed that there are others like The Ghost. But I was holding onto the hope that The Ghost will be able to undo Sae Ha's death. And she probably did?
I am happy to see both of them alive opening a door to Sae Byeok and her child. But that's it. That's the ending. And I was like: Huh?
Everything that happened after Sae Ha went back from his time-traveling became complicated and confusing that I just accepted it like fate and did not fight back or ask. Overall though, the series is good and I am glad to be confused from time to time.